Author's Note: Thank you again, Chrissie 42, for taking the time to read and leave your thoughts on this story. I really appreciate that. And to answer your question, yes Lorna will eventually confide in Nicky. I'm just taking it very slow with this story. (Maybe too excruciatingly slow) But I have a plan, I always have a plan.
Chapter Twenty-Six
As Lorna and Alex approached the front door of the house that Nicky had given them the address for, the sound of music could already be heard through the many open windows that surrounded them. Lorna swallowed her nerves, grabbing the handle of the door and cautiously pulling it open. She felt her legs wobble a bit as she followed behind the taller woman inside the building. Shutting the door behind her, her eyes searched around and widened at just how many people there were crowded in one space.
She gladly allowed Alex to lead the way through and cringed at how some of the girls grinded up against the boys. It made her reach a hand up to cover over her eyes until she walked right into the black-haired woman's back, making her realize she had stopped moving. She finally removed the hand from her face and felt a strong bout of relief to find Nicky standing right in front of them—an obviously amused expression etched on her face.
A warm smirk molded on the redhead's face at her girlfriend's actions. She lifted a hand to gently place on one of her porcelain cheeks. "You okay, kid?" Though a chuckle escaped her, she let her index finger softly curl a strand of brown hair behind her ear.
Despite being in a room full of mostly strangers, the tender sensation of her girlfriend's tucking a loose piece of hair behind her ear rapidly brought a warm, fuzzy, tingle through each of Lorna's veins. A pleasant exhale of breath forced its way up out of her throat. "Yeah, just—uh, lots of naughty things I noticed with some girls and boys in the other room. I'm not big into parties like this, really."
Nicky let out another chuckle, letting her hands softly cup around the brunette's cheeks. Their eyes met and an affectionate smile molded on her face. "Huh, yeah, those filthy hetero teenagers being all sickly with each other," she joked, brushing a thumb delicately across Lorna's forehead. "My little naïve, sweet Lorna. I woulda never guessed you weren't a party person."
Lorna looked at her with wide eyes. "Really? What—do I look like a partier or somethin'?"
"I was messin' with ya, kid. I'm not at all surprised that you wouldn't be into parties; you're too—"
"Too what, huh? Too much of a goody-two-shoes?" She had no idea where the bout of anger had come from and rather quickly regretted the slight outburst she just displayed in front of her own girlfriend. "I'm sorry, hon. I didn't mean to be so mean, don't know what came over me."
Instantly, Nicky's playful manner turned serious and her arms wrapped protectively around the smaller girl. Brown eyes gazed down at her, an intense wave of affection oozing from within them. She took a moment to observe the brunette over and for the first time saw the obvious dark circles that rested underneath her eyes. The sight made her heart clench. She placed a thumb below the lid of her eye, tenderly stroking the flesh beneath it. "Have ya slept at all in the past few days? You look like ya haven't in weeks, doll."
A lump was felt at the bottom of her throat, however, the soothing touch that Nicky's arms provided her with trumped all else. "Course' I have, hon. I just always have bags under my eyes, my dad says it's from all the caffeine I consume. I don't know, but I'll never give up coffee," she told her, shrugging her shoulders.
Not entirely convinced, Nicky only tightened her warm arms around her girlfriend's waist. She brushed her lips delicately over the flesh of her forehead. "Hmm, is that right? I never heard a caffeine causing eye bags but maybe that's a real thing. Nah, you don't have to give up coffee but maybe try cutting down how many cups, yeah?"
The party died down slightly while the two teens and Alex sat chatting on one of the couches in the living room. Other nearby conversations and blaring music still boomed through, however, at that point Lorna was easily able to tune it out and keep her focus on the two people she was sitting with. A rush of adrenaline pumped through her veins; she felt giddy to be at that party on a weekday evening. She smiled, looking back and forth from Nicky to Alex.
"So, like, what do ya do at these kinda things?" An inquisitive eyebrow curved up.
The older of the three girls, held up a hand and moved a few cushions down on the sofa. "Don't ask me, I haven't been to a party in years. Don't know what you teens are into these days." A small chuckle escaped her as she watched the changing facial expressions on her two friends.
Nicky easily allowed a smirk to take shape on her face, nonchalantly outstretching an arm to wrap around her girlfriend's shoulder. Her eyes peered across at Alex, chuckling at the comment she just made. "Ya really don't go to parties anymore? That's hard to believe, Vause. I bet ya I know what you'd do at them when ya went."
Arms folded over her chest, the black-haired woman looked at her with an amused mien fixed on her face. "Yeah, and what is it ya think I did at parties?"
"Smoked weed and had sex with all the hot women, am I right?" Nicky chuckled, waggling a playful eyebrow.
Alex threw up her shoulders in a shrug with her own light-hearted snicker. "Well, you're not entirely wrong. But those days are far behind me now. The only reason I came to this party was because Lorna needed a ride."
Uneasily sitting beside Nicky, the youngest and shortest of the three focused her gaze on the floor beneath her feet and took in a sharp breath. She didn't know why the topic made her feel so uncomfortable, maybe it was from her upbringing or maybe she was truly just a complete prude. Or the fact that she had been lying to her sister about her whereabouts was coming to taunt her, she thought. Whatever the motive, she placed her hands on her thighs to keep them steady. It was just a stupid party, she told herself, there was no reason for her to get so bothered by harmless chit-chat.
Her eyes finally glanced back up at Nicky and she pursed her lips into a smile. "So, is that what ya do at parties like this? Ya just smoke weed and do promiscuous activities?"
To hear that come out of her girlfriend's normally innocent mouth, Nicky almost choked on her own saliva. She held back a laugh at her comment and allowed her lips to press against the flesh of her forehead. "Promiscuous activities, huh? I didn't know ya had such an eloquent vocabulary, kid. Are ya hinting at wanting to take part in some promiscuous activities together?" She gave a playful wink to the brunette before cupping her hands lovingly around her cheeks and smashing their lips hotly together.
All train of thought dissipated the second their lips collided together. Lorna momentarily shut her eyes, relishing in the soft and tender sensation of Nicky's angelic lips pressed against her own. It felt like a dream—a warm, tender dream that she never wanted to end. Her arms instinctively wrapped around her girlfriend's neck as she gradually deepened the kiss, not caring that she needed to breathe. She'd rather spend an eternity kissing Nicky.
Watching the two with widened eyes, Alex secretly hadn't been shocked at all to know her two friends were into each other like that. She had an inkling early on that the pair of them would eventually become romantic with one another. However, she decided on quite loudly clearing her throat to pull their attention away before the kiss turned into anything more—she figured they wouldn't want an audience if that were to happen.
With two sets of eyes on her, the black-haired woman peered back with an intrigued eyebrow curved upwards. "So, when did the two of ya become a thing?"
Lorna and Nicky shared a loving gaze before returning their attention on the highly curious Alex sitting on the other side of the sofa. A warm laugh poured out of Nicky as she snaked an arm around her girlfriend's waist and looked at their friend, "A few weeks ago. After we scarred Lorna's little nephew for life with our little make-out session." The memory only made her laugh once more.
"What, were ya two making out in the living room or something? I guess that's no surprise since ya were just kissing freely out in the open here," Alex questioned, yet, a spirited snicker sounded through her windpipe.
"Course' not," Lorna quickly interjected, feeling her cheeks flush a bright pink. "We were in the guest room…and I forgot to close the door like the idiot I am."
The comment may have gone unnoticed by anyone else but Nicky felt her chest slightly constrict at the sound of her girlfriend's degrading herself like that, regardless of it wasn't meant that way. She leaned her head against Lorna's and brushed a soft kiss over the flesh of her cheek. "You are not an idiot, not even close. Please don't insult yourself, my sweet Lorna." The words were tenderly murmured against the younger teen's ear so that only she could hear them.
"How old's your sister's kid, anyway?" Alex inquired, hoping to lighten the mood once more.
"He's three—he probably don't even know what he saw," Lorna replied with a shrug. The image of her sister's face when she came bustling in the room that day immediately brought a faint bout of giggles out of her. "Honestly, we mighta scarred Franny more than my nephew. Shoulda been there to see the look on her face when she walked in on us." She felt a few more chuckles work their way up and out of her.
Confused lines creased on the adult woman's face. She quietly wondered if that meant Franny might have been—her head shook at the thought, she couldn't imagine her coworker to have a problem with anything like that but decided to voice her concerns for confirmation, anyway. "Is your sister—"
Lorna instantly interrupted with a vicious wave of her hand. "Franny is not homophobic, if that's what you're askin'. She's the one real good person in my family so please don't make bad assumptions of her."
Alex nodded slowly, quickly regretting her decision to question her in the first place. It was an awful idea, she realized, and felt a slight guilt rise up inside of her. She sighed, looking the youngest teen over with a shame faintly seeping from her blue irises. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to imply anything, I just wasn't sure—not everyone is okay with these things but yeah, you're right I, uh, shouldn't of made such an assumption."
Sitting silently with her arm still wrapped rather protectively around her girlfriend's waist, Nicky arched her eyebrows as she tried to decipher the comment that Lorna had just made. There had to be some deeper meaning to it, she believed, and it bothered her that she didn't exactly know what that could be. Her eyes were soft as they gazed down into Lorna's, however, she refrained from saying anything more on the matter—she'd save that for when they weren't at a raving party.
"Okay enough boring talk—we gonna smoke weed or what?"
Both girls looked at her with wide eyes, shock respectively displayed on each of their faces. Neither one would ever have expected such a question to come from Lorna's mouth. Nicky chuckled and wrapped her arms even snugger around her while Alex just sat there with a stunned mien. "Ya really wanna smoke weed, kid? That doesn't seem like your type a thing," she asked, albeit the chuckle, her voice held apprehension at the idea of letting Lorna dabble into smoking. She knew smoking was only a gateway into even more intense drugs and the last thing she was going to do was to encourage her sweet, doe-eyed girlfriend to take part in such a dangerous behavior.
Lorna felt a bit of frustration at the assumption her girlfriend made. She narrowed her eyes slightly. "What, ya think I'm just some immature little kid who wouldn't even consider using weed? Or maybe ya think I don't even know what weed is, huh? Well, I'll prove you wrong. Where do we get the weed from?"
"Hey, hey," Nicky called out, putting a hand up in front of the other's face. She peered intensely into her eyes, trying to read what she was mentally experiencing at that moment. Her heart ached to think that Lorna had it ingrained in her mind that she would even deliberate such beliefs about her. "I do not think you're an immature kid who has no idea what weed is—I just, you just don't seem like someone who would seriously consider smoking any, that's all. Lorna, you don't need to prove anything to me. Do ya really wanna try weed or do ya honestly think ya have to prove yourself to me?"
"I wanna try it, Nicky. It's not like weed is a real bad drug, right?" The brunette pleaded, her eyes peering widely at her girlfriend's. She didn't know where her interest in wanting to take a stab at weed stemmed from, but she felt like it was a necessity that she do so at that party tonight.
"Technically, to be accurate," Alex chimed in, "weed is more so an herb than a drug. But if you're not careful with how much of it ya inhale, the high it gives can be a little dangerous."
Though the comment was meant to be helpful, Nicky turned her head to give a slight glare towards Alex. Of course what she had said was only the truth, but she hadn't been okay with it encouraging her girlfriend to dip her feet into the world of smoking—because she knew that could easily lead to actual drugs and she'd be damned if she willy-nilly allowed Lorna down such a slippery slope. It was a slope that she, herself, was still trying to not fall down.
"Fine," Nicky huffed out, letting a hand rub at her temples. "I'll see if I can scrounge up a little weed, okay? But I'm not letting ya smoke a whole lot of it, kid."
The brunette watched closely as her girlfriend released her arm from her body and pushed herself up from the couch to walk across the living room where a heavy-set, short-statured, woman with short black-hair stood. Her eyes averted slightly over to the right of where the two of them were—seeing a plastic table with food laid out on it—and noticed another girl, taller and slender with long dark curls cascading down her back, seemingly making googly eyes at Nicky while she placed a heaping pile of tater-tots onto the foam plate in her hands. Immediately, she felt a darkness come over her.
Lorna turned to glance at Alex and motioned for her to look where her hand was pointed. "Ya see that, Alex? That tater-tot girl is checking Nicky out. Can ya believe that?"
Following with her eyes towards what the other was gesturing towards, Alex squinted them while observing the girl attentively. "Eh, ya don't have anything to worry about. Nicky loves you, Lorna. That girl ain't gonna change that."
"Yeah, right—how do ya know that tater-tot lover won't just try to flirt with Nicky and woo her or somethin'?" A scowl molded onto the younger girl's face as she folded her arms distastefully over her chest. There was a blatant lump sitting in the pit of her stomach at the sickening thought. She wished she could shut her mind off at times like that one.
"Ya gotta trust Nicky. Do ya think Nicky would ever do something like that to ya?" The black-haired woman inquired, peering at her with a small amount of concern.
Taking in a breath, Lorna slowly shook her head. "Course' I trust her, Nicky's the sweetest person I know."
Nodding agreeably, Alex placed a comforting hand onto her friend's and gave it soft squeeze. "Good, then you don't need to stress over it. Do ya think smoking weed right now is even a good idea? You're this paranoid about this random girl checking Nicky out, how much more paranoid do ya think the weed is gonna make ya?"
A deep sigh tumbled up from her throat. Her eyes lingered on that random girl who's eyes never once faltered from Nicky's frame. It shouldn't bother her, she knew, because Nicky was her girlfriend and would never do anything to hurt her. But as she continued to study every little part of the tater-tot lover's body, the more she realized how much more attractive that slender teen was than herself. She was taller, thinner, and just all around prettier, Lorna thought. She swallowed thickly, averting her eyes down at herself and sighing at the protruding gut she had. It wouldn't be a shock if Nicky eventually chose to move onto some like tater-tot, she believed. Hell, she wouldn't even blame her if she had.
"I think doing weed is an even better idea now," was all that Lorna settled on responding with. Maybe the effects of the herb would stop her mind from fretting so much over such petty things, she pondered.
Nicky gladly took the Ziploc bag of cannabis from Boo, placing it in her pocket. Before she could turn her attention away, she noticed the older teen reaching for another baggie in her pocket and immediately felt the color from her face draining at a rapid speed. Without it even needing to be said, she already had a sense that what was possessed in her hands was more heroin. A sigh escaped her. She'd have to turn it down, she knew, she promised Lorna she wouldn't do anymore of it.
"I got more heroin if ya want any a that too?" Boo dangled it out in front of her, arched eyebrows over both of her blue eyes.
Albeit the deep desire that sat on her heart, Nicky reluctantly shook her head at the offer. The very tempting offer that had she not made a promise to her girlfriend she would have easily given in to it. "Nah, I'm good. Thanks, Boo. I'll let ya know if I ever need any more a that, though," she informed the other, even though she knew the chances of her asking for more were slim.
She turned away, ready to walk back the couch where her girlfriend and friend were sitting. However, her task was interrupted by an unfamiliar girl standing in front of her and lightly poking her on the shoulder. Curving an eyebrow upwards, she looked her over with a puzzled mien. "Yeah, ya need somethin'?"
The taller girl smiled brightly while allowing her brown eyes to gaze fiercely into Nicky's. "Just been watchin' ya for a bit and wanted to say I think you're," she leaned down so that her mouth was resting a mere inches away from her ear, "so sexy. I think you were in a couple of my classes but haven't seen you at school lately. Hmm, what's your name?"
Nicky quickly pulled herself out of the girl's grasp and stared at her, stunned at her actions. "Yeah, uh, appreciate the compliment but I'm happily in a relationship. You don't need to know my name—I won't be back at that school."
Jotting something on a ripped up piece of paper, the brunette girl placed it in the pocket of Nicky's skorts. She threw her a frisky wink, mentally ignoring the comment about her having already been in a relationship. "That's a shame. When things go south, text me. My number is in your pocket," she nearly purred, letting her hand rub against her behind as she gradually walked the other direction.
Shuttering from the uncomfortable experience she just lived through, Nicky was relieved for that girl to finally leave. She grabbed the paper from her pocket and squinted her eyes to read it. The girl's name was Shani, she read the word right above the scribbled phone number. Rolling her eyes, she temporarily placed it back in her pocket until she could find a trash bin to toss it into.
Fury boiled to the surface after Lorna caught sight of the whole exchange between her girlfriend and tater-tot lover. Her head shook furiously, she gritted her teeth to keep herself from losing it. She knew that girl was pawing for Nicky; and damn, did she have the strong urge to claw her eyes out. Her eyes deterred from the interaction over to stare at Alex, who only returned her glance with a sympathetic expression. "See, what did I tell ya? That tater-tot girl wants Nicky," she said, gesturing her hands in their direction.
"But look, Nicky shoed her away—stop worrying so much, Lorna. You know Nicky wouldn't do anything to hurt you. This is why smoking weed doesn't seem like such a good idea for ya right now," the older woman pointed out, still holding a concerned mien on her face. Seeing how upset and paranoid Lorna was at the moment, without even taking any marijuana yet, Alex pondered how worse off she'd be with the effects from using the herb.
The conversation was quickly interjected by Nicky's return; she held up the Ziploc and shook it a little to show off that she successfully retrieved the weed. "Got the good shit," she informed them, sitting back in her spot beside Lorna. After the heavily unnerving conversation with that Shani girl, she graciously threw her arms protectively around her girlfriend's petite waist.
"I need some now," Lorna muttered, reaching for the bag desperately.
"Whoa, kid, calm down. Lemme show ya how to do it, yeah?" The redhead eyed her suspiciously while reaching in her other pocket for her lighter and pipe. She faintly grimaced when the stupid piece of paper came out with it.
The paper was quickly observed by Lorna, who sucked the bottom of her lip inward as her eyes moved across at Nicky. "What's that paper for, hon?"
"Don't worry about it, doll, it's nothing important. I just had it in my pocket because I'm waiting to find a garbage can to toss it in."
Arching eyebrows interestedly over both of her dark eyes, Lorna held her gaze on the other woman. To assume she was intrigued to know what was written on that paper in her girlfriend's hands would be an under assumption. She craved to get her hands on it, to see what it said, but she sighed and refrained from any further prying. The last thing she wanted to do was to upset Nicky over something that was probably only a petty, stupid, piece of paper.
"So, how do ya smoke the weed?" She asked, deciding that whatever that paper contained wasn't worth a possible argument. Her interest was better suited on learning how to use the herb that her girlfriend brought over, she deemed. At least the effects of it would benefit her in a more positive manner.
Nicky held the pipe in one hand while using her other to grab a couple pinches of the cannabis and placed it inside the circular bowl at the end of it. She repeated the last step a couple of times to make sure it held a decent amount inside. Before picking up the lighter, she turned to face Lorna and gestured her head towards the herb-filled pipe in her hand. "Ya see that, kid? I just put a few little dabs of the weed in the little bowl part a the pipe and now I'm gonna show ya how to smoke it. Ready?"
Eyes watching closely, Lorna gave a profuse nod of her head. The scent was intense; she couldn't figure out exactly what kind of scent it'd been but it filled both of her nostrils quite profoundly. Maybe an herby smell, like opening a large bag of catnip—not that she had a cat but the only thing she could acquaint it to—it had a strong Earthy undertone, mixed in, she noted as well. "I didn't expect it to have such a strong smell," she commented, observing her girlfriend's actions with curious eyes.
A light chuckle expelled from Nicky as she reclaimed the lighter in her free hand. "Smells like the Earth, yeah?"
"I would say more like catnip," Lorna decided, bouncing her shoulders in a shrug.
Interrogative lines formed on Alex's forehead; she peered towards her with an intrigued aura coming from her eyes. "Catnip? Ya got cats or something at home?"
The youngest teen let out a light-hearted laugh and shook her head. "Nah my dad would never allow cats in the house. But when I was younger, every time we'd go to the store for groceries…I had this weird habit of going down the cat food aisle and finding the little bags of catnip—I always squeezed them until they popped open and the contents fell all over the floor. I, uh, I thought if I covered the floor in catnip that a herd of cats would magically appear." Her cheeks flushed a bright pink; embarrassment settled in, she focused her eyes downward.
"Kid, are ya sure ya weren't smoking back then?" Nicky playfully inquired, a warm laugh escaping. She easily pressed a kiss atop her head while imagining a little Lorna messing a store aisle up with bags and bags of catnip. Another snicker poured through her at such an amusing thought.
"I was not—my brother told me that if I threw all the catnip on the floor, all the cats would show up to eat it. I believed him because I was like six or seven years old at the time," was Lorna's sheepish reply, the redness on her cheeks only darkening.
Both girls gave her a questioning glance, neither one knowing of this mysterious brother she had mentioned. It was Nicky who decided to break the ice and question the brunette, "Thought ya only had a sister? Where's your brother—is he the oldest?"
Lorna shrugged. Talking about her family was never her topic of choice. Even more so when it came to her brother, she knew the only reason he even joined the military was to escape Mr. Morello's drunken fits. Not just that, but she had a sense that busying himself with the army might have been his way of coping with their mother's illness and eventual death. At least it was healthier than how she chose to cope, she thought. "I got a brother, too. Mikey, he's a year younger than Franny—he enlisted in the military after he turned eighteen so he ain't home that much."
"Now, can we get back to ya showing me how to smoke the weed?"
Nicky gave a gentle squeeze to her girlfriend's waist and put her attention back on the pipe and lighter in her hands. Albeit sensing the miniscule sadness that seemed to ooze from Lorna's features, she refrained from saying anything further on that matter. "All I'm gonna do now is hold my hand around the bowl part and place the lighter carefully underneath it. And then I'm just gonna light it and inhale it from the little straw thing at the other end of it—see here," she stated, moving a finger towards the skinny part of the pipe.
"Okay, so, can I try please?" Impatience rapidly took over as Lorna's eyes gazed longingly at the pipe in her lover's hands.
Holding up a hand, Nicky curtly shook her head. "Hold on, kid. Let me demonstrate how to inhale in it, yeah?" She did exactly that, using one hand to bring the thinner side of the pipe into her mouth and the other hand she used to grip onto the bowl while moving a finger to start the lighter beneath it. The fire crackled over the marijuana, Nicky sucked in slowly for several seconds before emancipating the flick on her lighter and pulling the straw from her mouth. An airy breath released afterwards, leaving a chain of smoke in its path.
The younger teen nodded enthusiastically while reaching a hand out for the instruments. "Looks easy enough. I think I'm ready to try it," she commented, eagerly awaiting to be handed the pipe and lighter. Adrenaline pumped intensely through her veins; she never imagined herself to ever be doing anything like what she'd been about to do. It gave her a thrill she never knew she wanted.
Nicky carefully handed the items to Lorna, eyes gazing over her with a ferocity that she didn't know was there until that specific moment. She still hadn't felt at ease with allowing her to test out the cannabis; it caused a fierce worry to loom over her, she hoped Lorna was not doing this just to prove herself to anyone. "Be careful, yeah?"
Though she paid attention to the demonstration Nicky displayed only moments ago, with the lighter and pipe in her hands, a faint bout of nervous goosebumps formed on Lorna's skin. Never in her life had she ever believed she'd be holding marijuana in her fingers—maybe not directly in them but it was held by her, nonetheless. Shaking away the building panicky sensation, she put her focus on mimicking her girlfriend's previous actions. She held the bowl in one hand and tried to grab the lighter in the same one so that the one free hand she had left she could use to hold the thin piece into her mouth but realized just how uncoordinated she was in comparison to Nicky. Her hands tremored slightly, but she did her best to grip them in a similar fashion to how the older teen had. She placed the straw of the pipe into her mouth and covered her thumb over the flick on the lighter; the task proved much more challenging than she originally thought as the lighter ever-so-lightly shook from the increasing quiver of her hand. The movement caused the flame to come in contact with her finger rather than the bowl full of weed.
